ICYMI: CRISPR

Happy To Be Here

Greta Johnsen

Improvement, Nerd, Culture, Wbez, Pop, Books, Society & Culture, Nerdette, Self, Tv & Film, Technology, Nerds, Tv

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2018

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nerdette host Greta Johnsen has a rare genetic disease that CRISPR might be able to fix.

As a four-year old in Juneau, Alaska, Greta was diagnosed with an eye condition known as "Best disease." That name is somewhat of a misnomer in that "Best disease" causes premature macular degeneration — but curiously it happens to be among the best diseases for experimenting with CRISPR, a genetic engineering tool that can be used to edit DNA.

CRISPR has been in the news a lot lately (Google it) so we're rebroadcasting this very special episode, one that follows the story of Greta, her father, and Dr. Bruce Conklin, a scientist who's currently developing a CRISPR system to inject into some Johnsen family eyeballs.

Plus, you can't have a conversation about experimental gene editing without discussing the ethical implications of making irreversible changes to human evolution.

“We’d be permanently altering the course of evolution if we decide that we think it’s OK to edit human embryos," says Megan Hochstrasser, a science communications manager and CRISPR expert. "Is that something we want to be able to do as a society?”

That's a great question. Let's talk about it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This fall, W bez invites you to our upcoming live events.
0:05.0	Join us in person for smart discussions, heartfelt storytelling, and more.
0:09.0	Check out the full calendar now at W be easy.org
0:12.6	slash events.
0:13.6	Hey all this is Greta.
0:16.8	You may have noticed that a super new gene editing tool called CRISPR
0:21.0	has been in the news a lot lately, not necessarily for the best of reasons.
0:25.5	Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about.
0:28.4	But because of that, we thought we would dust off an episode that we did earlier this year and
0:32.2	put it back in the Nurdett feed.
0:33.9	It's all about my super rare genetic retinal disease and how CRISPR could help fix it.
0:39.6	I hope you like it.
0:40.6	Excellent, excellent! like it. Excellent. Excellent.
0:43.0	Hello. Hey pops you ready to talk about eyeballs. Anytime got a couple. You You? From W.BeeZ Chicago, this is Nurdette.
0:56.0	I'm Prisha Bobita.
0:57.0	And I am Greta Johnson, and this week's episode is a personal one.
1:01.0	Yes, this week's episode is about the role that Greta might play in a very is a personal one.
1:04.0	this week's episode is about the role that Greta might play and a very new kind of science,
1:06.0	a kind of science that could cure once incurable diseases.
1:09.0	If all this works, it could change human existence forever.
1:14.0	Yeah, no big deal.
1:15.0	Really big deal, Greta.
	...

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